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Most of us have a pretty good grasp of the basic principle of animation: still images, when played in succession, give the impression of motion and make cartoons move. Of course, it’s much more complicated than that. But “How Does Animation Work?” — a succinct explanatory video outlining the key differences and similarities between various animation techniques — makes learning a breeze. The video has a relaxed fit and an easy-going vibe that make it easy to sit back and nod along to cooly delivered demonstrations of how 2-D rigging works compared to its 3-D counterpart; what tweening is, and how both stop-motion and computer animation make use of armatures. That the video manages to pack as much information as it does into just over two minutes, without breaking a sweat, is wildly impressive.
“How Does Animation Work” outpaces many a Wikipedia page and explainer article by not only telling us how animation works but showing us. As our upbeat, plaid-panted guide walks us through animation techniques, his own animation style reciprocates: be it 2-D, 3-D, hand-drawn, rigged, or hand-sculpted. Its a marvelously watchable explainer that’ll leave you feeling entertained as well as informed. This is the edutainment we all deserve.
You can watch “How Does Animation Work?” here:
Who made this?
Tyler Pacana is an animator and cartoonist. You can browse his video content on his Vimeo and his YouTube pages. You can find Pacana’s official website, which includes his social links and portfolio, here. “How Does Animation Work” is Pacana’s thesis at Sheridan College, Canada.
More Videos Like This
- “How ‘Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’ Was Animated,” which includes break down of how animators used frame rates to show character development.
- A video about the three rules you have to follow to pull off living animation a.k.a. when a film hybridizes animation with live-action film (e.g. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
- Insider‘s love letter to Laika, the studio keeping stop-motion animation alive and well.
- A marvelous look at the early evolution of animated films.